Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Children are not learning computer basic's

It is sad what is happening these days. Children the very foundation of our economy are not learning the fundamentals of computer design and programming. Sure they can text at light-speed and know everything about winning on the Xbox but the basic's have fallen by the wayside. Its time this changed. You wont like it when China owns the market.

2 comments:

Cool project. But IMHO to have people really understand how computers work, they should be taught (a simple) assembly language in primary school... I mean, if you ask even computer-interested people (e.g. media / interaction design students) questions like "which of the following functionalities are implemented as instructions of your computer's CPU: A) predicting a chess moveB) comparing two numbersC) comparing two stringsD) taking the square root of a number"you get loads of wrong answers, from which I conclude that the very basics of computing are unknown to the vast majority of people.

Two big points in this year’s survey stopped Schuler cold when he read them. First, 60 percent of respondents could name a reason not to go into a science and tech field. "They’re daunted by something," he says, whether it’s that the path through school seems too hard, they don’t know anybody in those fields to look up to, or another reason. Secondly, Schuler says, nearly a third said they had little to no experience building anything hands-on, whether it’s a digital product like a website or a physical project like piecing together circuit. "These two are connected pretty strongly," he says. Building cultivates DIY skills and kick-starts a person’s interest in making things.

Those numbers would probably alarm President Obama, who spent a chunk of last night’s State of the Union address hammering the need to enhance American STEM education as a means to boost the economy. Schuler says he was grateful that Obama made such a high-profile argument. "STEM is the foundation of technology, invention, and innovation," he says.

But, Schuler says, it’s critical to remember that strengthening American STEM education isn’t just about churning out more Ph.D.s. Vocational-technology schools, junior colleges, and other institutions must help students reach their inventive potential, he says. "We need more of the bulk of the U.S. population appreciating STEM and thinking in creative ways."